January 16, 2015

Can your kids (or even yourself) have fun without internet or technology? How do you usually entertain yourselves? Do we depend so much on technology that losing it, even for a moment, irritates us and causes disruption to our lives? That’s definitely the case for Mia’s mom. She was angry when she couldn’t find the television remote and ordered Mia to tidy her messy room and look for the remote. But Messy Mia & The Tale of Ancient Tech by AvatarGeneration is more about how technology has evolved over the past generation than how we have become more reliant on technology in our daily lives.

While searching for the remote, Mia met a knowledgeable robot who told her the kind of home entertainment and telecommunications technology that her mom had in the past. Mia listened in disbelief that there were no TV remotes, DVDs, CDs, mobile phones, MP3 players nor laptops when her mom was young. She felt sorry thinking about how deprived her mom was as a child and promptly went to find the remote.

I enjoyed reading this storybook app as it brought me back to my youth – the era of CRT TVs, VCR recorders, video tapes, cassette players, cassettes, Walkmans, phone booths, rotary dial phones and internet dial-ups. I can so relate to the mom’s outrage when someone called in while she was on the internet because you couldn’t use both the phone and internet at the same time! I love to bring my kids to the museums, vintage shops and other establishments that showcase items from the past. I would reminisce about the old days and marvel at how much technology has progressed in just one generation.

Messy Mia & The Tale of Ancient Tech offers the perfect opportunity for parents like us to talk about the old and new technology to our kids. To them, it is inconceivable that we could live without the current conveniences (think iPhones) and they become somewhat appreciative of what they have. Seeing what once seemed impossible is now possible, I hope they will be inspired to dream about the future possibilities and think of new ideas and inventions to further improve our lives.

This storybook app even has a section for kids to think about how the past technology has impacted the adults, what present technology means to them and imagine what future technology would be like. There are 11 guiding questions to start them thinking. While this section is also suitable for older kids, the rest of the book is appropriate for children up to lower elementary levels. The 4 mini games (Color Mia, Match the Tech, Tidy Mia’s Room & Memory) included in the app are however suitable for preschool children.

Overall, this is a wonderful book touching on a topic that is rarely discussed with children but one that carries a timely reminder that we can live without high-tech communications and entertainment technology (and not being so reliant), and an appreciation of life changing technology.

Recommended.

This app has been thoroughly evaluated by our staff. Please click on the 'star ratings' tab above, to see how it fared in all nine of our rating categories. See synopsis tab for more details about the storyline.

This review was originally published by TheiMums.com on December 4, 2014. The iMums – Amanda, Alison, Mary and Grace – are four mothers from different parts of the world dedicated to educating parents about the best digital stories, educational apps, fun games and technology products available for their children. Founded in August 2011, the four iMums have 11 kids among them ranging in age from 1 to 17 and bring a global perspective to their app reviews.

The original iMum Amanda being from Australia, Alison is in America, Grace is from Singapore and Mary is from the UK but is currently living in America. Grace is a mother of 4 children aged from 6 to 18 years. The family of 6 loves to explore their neighborhood in Singapore and travel overseas during the school breaks. Her kids like to hang out together playing the iPad in their free time. At other times, the iPad is used mainly for educational purposes by her youngest son who has special needs. She checks the daily free apps listing and is most excited to share good app finds. Living in fast-paced education-obsessed Singapore, Grace recharges her energy by watching K drama on the iPad (there are apps for that too!).

All reviews are of the app, not the platform/device. Based originally on iPad versions. Minor technical details may vary.

Story Synopsis - Messy Mia - Tales and Stories of the Ancient Tech with Trivia Picture Quiz for Kids

Messy Mia & The Tale of Ancient Tech is a Great way for your kids to learn about Old /Ancient technology! You as a parent can share stories of Old technology with your kids like cassette players, Dial Up Internet, Walkmans, VCRs...

Messy Mia is a story of a young girl learning how per parents grew up and survived without today’s modern technology such as Laptops, Tablets, Broadband & Cell Phones!

Mia & her fun loving pet robot embark on a quest to find her mom’s TV remote in this interactive storybook. Messy Mia makes the process of learning so much fun that kids just love it!

iPhone -

Messy Mia is a fun storybook that teaches kids about the old technology their parents grew up with. Reminisce about the past and share stories about Cassette Players, Walkmans, VCRs & Dial Up Internet...